General Education

leh300-301-spring08.php

LEH 300-LEH301 -
Spring 2008 - Section Titles & Descriptions

LEH300

LEH3000734
T-TH
2:00-3:15

0735
T-TH
4:00-5:15

01

02

DeSimone, Janet

Women in the Bible
Crossing the disciplines of literature, history and women's studies, this course will examine the different roles of women in the Bible. We will begin with some of the stories in Genesis that speak of the early people of Israel, and end with the woman-prophetess who speaks of the destruction of the kingdom and temple of Judah.

LEH3000736
F
1:30-4:00

0738W3:30-6:00

03W

05W

Saint-Just, Sophie

Independent Films: Reading Cinematic and Literary Text
The advent of independent films has paralleled the emergence of voices from oppressed minority groups. This interdisciplinary introductory course explores discourses of cultural affirmation and contestation through the lenses of independent films (indies) but also through poems, short stories, and theories from the English, Spanish, and French-Speaking Americas, with an emphasis on the variegated historical experiences of the African Diaspora but not exclusively. We will look at the way independent filmmakers and authors from the Caribbean have contributed to discourses on American identities in poems and short stories. For instance, we will delve into the cultural process of Creolization when we examine how the interaction between poor African-American and Caribbean (English and Spanish-speaking) youth gave birth to Hip-Hop in the South Bronx in the 1970s (in documentaries such as Wild Style and Style Wars and in an article by Juan Flores. Then we will discuss the way the recent documentary Hip-Hop: Beyond

LEH3000737
F
9:00-11:30

04W

Cash, Jeremy

Leisure and Recreation in a Multicultural Society
This course will examine the diverse cultures which make up the American Landscape. Culture will be examined using leisure as its theme and starting point. Similarities as well as differences between culture will be identified. Folktales, proverbs, riddles, holidays, rituals and games from around the world will be presented and discussed.

LEH3000740
T-Th
4:00-5:15

06

Araia, Ghelawdewos

Politics and Cultures of African Peoples in Africa and the Diaspora
The objective of this course is to introduce students to the basic tenets of politics and culture of the people of African descent in Africa and the Diaspora. The course begins by examining the concepts of politics and culture and their ramifications, and in due course of class discussion, students will explore specific cultures of particular African, Latin American and Caribbean societies. By doing so students will encounter group dynamics that make society with a characteristic way of life or culture – and in the macro sense, a system of values and norms – in relation to which people are organized according to status and role, and this whole fabric systematically linked together by networks of communication in the context of political systems and governance.

LEH3000710
F
9:30-12:00

07

Madden, Brian

Suffering and the Human Response [Taught with PHI 365]
That suffering is a part of human existence, none would deny. There is a sense in which every area of human inquiry conducts itself with an eye to this problem. For the purposes of this course, we will explore how the question of suffering is presented and addressed in the works of artists, poets, philosophers and theologians. We will examine paintings by Grunewald, Gericault, and Picasso; explore tragedies by Sophocles and Shakespeare; and consider the problem of suffering as it is addressed in Buddhist and Epicurean philosophical works and in the Book of Job. The aim of this course, in part, will be to foster a greater understanding of the diverse ways in which the problem of suffering has been described, while also providing an opportunity to explore the breadth of human resources that have been employed in the effort to confront this problem.

LEH3000733
W
10:00-2:30

08W

Sula, Chris

Global Justice [w/ PHI365]
Over 80% of the world’s wealth belongs to 20% of its population. How do we account for this huge inequality? (How) Should we respond to it morally? This class will survey prospects for global justice and their related problems. In particular, we’ll consider the historical and conceptual foundations of global justice, the roles of nations and global organizations in achieving justice, different models of equality and their possible measurements, the nature and scope of human rights, and applied issues of global justice, including citizenship, war, terrorism, and the environment. Readings will cover the diverse areas of philosophy, political science, economics, and law. Our goal is to tie theories of global justice to actual practice as much as possible, so we’ll also examine public documents United Nations reports and resolutions, as well as psychological work on allocation behavior and judgments of equality and fairness.

LEH3000712
T-TH
11:00-2:15

0713
T-TH
12:30-1:45

C01w

D01w

Salmanova, Ekaterina

The Mystery of St. Petersburg: Literature, Art, Film
Conceived as an embodiment of European progress, St. Petersburg nonetheless witnessed barbaric cruelty. This course will investigate the city’s two sides: dark and cruel, bright and inspiring. We will study the works of literature (Pushkin, Gogol, Dostoevsky, Akhmatova, Brodsky and others), art (Zubov, Patterson, Dobuzhinsky) and film (“October”, “Autumn Marathon”, etc.), connected with the city, as well as some of its historical and architectural features. The course will reveal the relatedness of these different subjects, examine how they reflect reality, and analyze the development of the image of a modern city.

LEH3000714
T, TH
12:30-3:45

D02w

Anderson, James

Jazz and the Improvised Arts
A history of jazz music from New Orleans to New York is coupled with an examination of improvisation in the arts. The class will investigate form and free creativity as applied to jazz, music from around the world, the visual arts, drama, and literature.

LEH3000715
M-W
8:00-9:15

0716
M,W
11:00-12:15

E01

G01w

Frangos, John

Epidemic Disease in History: From Plague of Athens to the Plague of Aids
Epidemic disease has been present throughout man's history and has had a profound effect on people and events. The purpose of this course is to examine these biological agents, their impact on history and society's responses, ranging from magic and religion to science, medicine, and the institution of the modern hospital. The course, in a topical format, ranges from prehistory to the present and presents disease's impact on history as well as the human response.

LEH3000711
M,W
9:30-10:45

0717
M,W 12:30-1:45

F01

H01

Auslander, Diane

Colonial Ireland: Origins of British Empire?
Using materials from history, literature, music, and theater, this course will explore the creation of a colony and the origins of the ‘Troubles’ between the Irish and the English from the Norman Invasion in 1172/3 through the misery of the potato famine from 1845 to 1852. From the 12th to the 19th centuries, England made systematic and ever more effective attempts to subjugate and colonize Ireland resulting in the economic and cultural devastation of an ancient and free society. We will concentrate on Irish resistance and on the development of English colonial strategies and rhetoric.

LEH3000718
M,W
11:00-12:15

G02

Galvez, Alyshia

Religions in Latin America, the Caribbean and Latino U.S.
Religions in Latin America, the Caribbean and the Latino U.S. The Iberian conquest of the Americas was accomplished with the cross as much as or more than with the sword. However, the story of the evangelization of the continent was not one of a simple imposition of a new religion on conquered peoples. Rather, Iberian Christianity was itself an extremely complex and multilayered system and the ways in which religion was transmitted to people in the Americas varied tremendously, sometimes representing a compassionate discourse of the dignity and humanity of native and African peoples, and at other times providing a rationale for their violent destruction. The study of religions is a particularly revealing lens through which to study the history and contemporary cultures of Latin America and the Caribbean. In this course we will look at the central role of religion in Latin American cultures from before Columbus through to the present day, with a special emphasis on contemporary ethnographies of religion.

LEH300
0720

FM

0721
FM

ONA1w

ONA2w

Piccolomini, Manfredi

Birth of the Renaissance in Florence
This course examines the revival of all aspects of classical learning, both humanistic and scientific, that took place in Florence at the beginning of the Renaissance. It will concentrate both on the literary and political revolutions of the time, as well as on the influence of the rediscovered principles of Euclidean geometry in the development of perspective in painting and the creation of the maps that led to great geographical discoveries. The goal of the course is to show how the Renaissance, especially as it developed in Florence, was at the basis of the modern world.

LEH3000722
FM

ONA3w

Quarrell, Susan

Widows and Maids: Medieval Images of Women in Chaucer’s "The Canterbury Tales"
The Middle Ages, despite the pervasive presence of a gloomy repressive church, was a period of immense social change and lively discourse. At the center of this discourse is Geoffrey Chaucer—considered by many to be the father of English Literature. In this course we will examine the Middle Ages and the images of medieval women that emerge as portrayed by Chaucer in his work The Canterbury Tales. We will explore elements of history, economics, sociology, and psychology represented by such figures as the Prioress, Griselda (the Clerk’s Tale), and the Wife of Bath, discovering the tensions inherent in the progress of women in medieval society. Discussions of women in the Tales will touch upon the question of whether women are good or bad—modeled on either the Virgin Mary or Eve. Students will gain an understanding of the influence of gender on individual behavior, as well as on contemporary institutions of marriage, workplace, and church.

LEH300
0723
FM

ONA4w

Viano, Bernado

Mexican Muralism: Revolution and Other Universal Themes
This course explores the interaction of a national, public art (mural painting) and a social event (the Mexican Revolution 1910). Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros and José Clemente Orozco, among others, created world-famous murals; their themes are universal, but two dominate: the experience of the Mexican Revolution and the concern of the place of human kind within the 20th century. The Revolution left its indelible mark on Mexican narrative as well; thus, we will read two novels that have something in common with the structure and thematic of muralismo mexicano.

LEH3000739

ONA5w

Honey, Larisa

Everyday Moscow: Past and Present
This course explores the lives of everyday people living in Moscow, focusing primarily on the late-Soviet and Post-Soviet eras. The course is multidisciplinary, drawing on a wide-range of fields, including art, history, anthropology, literature and cultural studies. Home to a diverse mosaic of cultures, ethnicities and beliefs, Moscow is a concentrated microcosm of the Russian nation, epitomizing Russia’s struggle to unite under one roof a vast multi-ethnic population. During the course of the semester we will become acquainted with the hopes, dreams and struggles of people with a wide range of philosophical, religious and cultural backgrounds as they work to co-exist and thrive in this increasingly crowded and complex metropolitan center. Explorations into the lives of Muscovites – both real and imaginary – will help humanize and contextualize their plights. Students interested in urban social issues should find particular interest in the struggles and vibrant creativity that show through in these accounts

LEH3000724
FM

ONA6w

Carroll, Mary

Monsters: Ancient and Modern
From the Golem to Godzilla, form gargoyles to Frankenstein, we seem to have an eternal fascination with the monstrous. When you read certain books or see certain films, do you secretly root for the monster? Are you willing to see to see his/her/its point of view? If so, this course is one that you will enjoy. We will be investigating why certain monsters hold such a special place in our cultural and literary lives. Their existence is not based simply on being the NOT HERO; they touch deep wells within us that may hold clues to our own selves and, on a broader level, to man's inhumanity to man. Various genres, from novels to cartoons to poetry, art and film will form our course work. In addition, you will go to a museum to find an appropriate painting or sculpture that exemplifies the monstrous in a particular genre we have examined and write a major paper on that work.

LEH3000725
FM

1552
FM

ONA7w

ONA8w

McCarl, Clayton

Poets, Priests, Painters, Punkers: Voices of Dissent in Latin America
This course will consider how official narratives have been questioned during 500 years of Latin American history. In doing so, we will examine a panorama of materials, including poetry, narrative literature, essays, visual art, music, political manifestos, historical and critical studies. We will consider how these documents challenge political and economic structures, class and gender dynamics, and conventional notions of racial, ethnic, and national identity. No knowledge of Spanish or Portuguese is required. This is a writing-intensive course, and students will be required to conduct complete numerous informal and formal writing assignments.

LEH3000726
M
3:00-4:30

ONH01W

Spear, Thomas

Quebec at 400 (1608-2008)
Québec? You ride in Bombardier trains of the IRT or LIRR, and ConEd gets power for your summer airconditioning from Hydro-Québec, but do you know more about Québec than Céline Dion and the Cirque du Soleil?

The capital city of Québec celebrates the 400th year anniversary of its founding in 2008, an opportune time to examine works by contemporary filmmakers and writers, and to see how the transformations of Quebec society, especially since the “Quiet Revolution,” are viewed: not only in film and fiction, but on the stage, and in other forms of popular culture (music, television, internet). Special lectures may include a journalist from one of Montréal’s daily newspapers, an historian to present Expo 67, and a performance of song from Quebec. Documentary and historical supplements will help understand the context inspiring cultural creation in Quebec. Short literary works will be a primary component of course readings; topics for individual projects can be chosen from literature or from another form of contemp

LEH300
0727
M
2:00-4:30

P01w

O'Boy, Deirdre

20th-Century Ireland in Film and Literature
This course will examine Irish literature and film in the 20th Century; beginning with the Irish Literary Revival in 1869, ending with a view of Ireland in the 21st Century. Texts and films will be read thematically, through the lenses of politics, nationality, culture, and geography, with the intent to build an introductory understanding of literature and film in Ireland.

LEH3000728
T
2:00-4:30

Q01

Mozes, Daniel

The French Revolution in History, Literature and Art.
The French Revolution is one of the most thrilling historical events that has ever occurred in Europe. It was a time when everything changed, right down to the names of the days of the week. We will study this period and try to imagine what it must have felt like to live through this scary and astonishing period. The course will first establish what happened in the French Revolution by reading a brief historical overview. We will then read excerpts from a few reactions, pro, con and otherwise, to the Revolution written while it was going on. Then literature and art: we will read French (in translation) and English literary responses to the events, feelings, hopes and disappointments that the Revolution inspired. Interspersed between discussions of literature will be discussions of what was happening in the fine arts, and particularly in painting. Thus a typical class, since the class sessions are long, will consist of a discussion of literature that everyone has prepared for the day, a short break, and then a

LEH3002647
T
2:00-4:30

Q02W

Carey, Roz

Critics of Modernity [w/ PHI365]
We may puzzle over what it means to say “all humans are created equal” but whether we understand it or not, and whether we believe it or not, we rarely doubt that the idea ought to be seen as important, meaningful, and true. Yet the assumption of human equality - which is central to democracy and modernity - has important critics, and their reasons for despising the very core of democracy require examination. In this course, we look at the arguments of these despisers of egalitarianism in an attempt to better judge the value of the belief in the equality of people.

LEH300
0730
TH
2:00-4:30

R01W

Shahidi, Samina

Muslim Women: Images and Social Roles
This course will look at how Muslim women in industrial and developing worlds represent themselves and the issues significant to them such as religion, human rights, globalization, migration, censorship, domestic violence, marriage and motherhood, and women’s labor. In order to examine the diversity of the female Muslim world, we will examine various genres: canonical, memoir, film, fiction and contemporary transnational theory. We will look at works by Azadeh Moaveni (Lipstick Jihad), Laila Lalami (Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits), and Dr. A. Wadud.

LEH3000731
Th
2:00-4:30

R02

Joyce, Regina

A Tale of Two Forces: Religion and Global Politics
A focus on globalization and religious encounters, examined through film and text, as two actors exerting new forces on 21st century forms of statecraft, anarchy, and morality. Examples of different religions’ impact in countries at varying levels of economic and political development will be analyzed and trends in international political economy and contemporary world politics will be discussed.

LEH3000732
Th
2:00-4:30

R03W

Duncker, Judith

Understanding Political Economy and Global Challenges
This course introduces students to the political and economic principles that under gird the major global political economy issues of our day. These issues include: global poverty and inequality; debt relief and development in poor nations; international migration and issues affecting immigration policy; international trade relations; hunger and food security. The course focuses on macroeconomic policy options and their implications for these challenges. It also identifies the significant governmental and non-governmental, national and inter-governmental institutions that directly impinge on the resolution of these challenges. Students will learn to use both qualitative and quantitative measures to assess these pressing global public policy challenges and will employ problem-solving skills to propose solutions to these global public policy issues.

LEH3001555
F
6:00-8:40

XF81W

Weisz, Carole

Dreams: The Royal Road to Art, Literature and Film
The dream has been the subject matter of literature, art, and film, and investigated by psychologists, philosophers, anthropologists and physiologists. Artists use imagery and symbolism of dreams in their works. Freud perceived dreams as “The road to the unconscious.” In turn, works of art, literature, and cinema are also dreamscapes. Though investigating established and cutting-edge psychological, philosophical, and physiological approaches to dreams, and their many manifestations in a wide range of media, we have the tools to understand not only the meanings and methods of artists, but we can gain insights into our own lives, our psyches, and our visions. We will investigate the dream in its many forms as symbol, as fantasy, as vision.

LEH3001551
Th
6:00-8:40

XH81W

Gantz, David

Theism, Atheism, and Existentialism [Taught with PHI 365]
Existentialism is one of the most important intellectual movements of the 20th century but the foundations of this philosophy can be found in the writings of the 19th century thinkers, Nietzsche and Kierkegaard. This course will begin with an analysis of Nietzsche and Kierkegaard and how their thoughts influenced two strands of existentialism – theistic and atheistic existentialism and what this implies for the human condition in the modern world. How can we discover meaning when the gods have abandoned us? What does it mean to have genuine faith and responsibility in a meaningless world? These and other themes will be examined through the work of a variety of philosophers and writers including Nietzsche, Kiekegaard, Dostoyevsky, Heidegger, Camus, Sartre, Buber and Richard Wright.

LEH3001554
M
6:00-8:40

XM81

Artinian, Art

Politics and the History of Ideas
This course will examine the interplay of politics and the idea of public higher education in the U.S. Class readings will deal with the debates surrounding the creation of early public universities (including NYC's Hunter, City College and the creation of Land Grant universities), the expansion of public institutions of higher learning during the New Deal (especially, the debates in New York) and the explosion of public universities after WW II. We will conclude by taking a close look at the most controversial political issues surrounding public college education today: the rising costs of attendance, privatization and corporatization, the debates around affirmative action and curriculum, distance education and the factors played by racial and gender politics in public higher education. Along the way, larger political and historical questions will be raised, questioning the purposes of higher education in the age of globalization and the current American political landscape.

LEH3001553M6:00-8:40

XM82W

Cash, Jeremy

Leisure and Recreation in a Multicultural SocietyThis course will examine the history of immigration to New York City and its depiction in popular films. By examining the historical record within the framework of cinematic representations of immigration, students will confront issues of historical accuracy versus creative license. Along with comparing “real” immigration to “reel” immigration, students will analyze the films as historical artifacts of the time in which they were produced, recognizing how the films exhibit the attitudes and assumptions commonly held about immigration at particular points in American history.

LEH3001556
Tu
6:00-8:40

XT83W

Rosen, Marjorie

Movie Heroines in a Changing World
The goal of this course is to understand how patriarchal attitudes toward women, love, and various notions of beauty, youth, and marriage and happily-ever-after endings provided the underpinnings for movies from the very beginning, and influenced women along the way.

LEH300
0729
W
6:00-8:40

XW81W

Brownson, Carl

The Problem of Evil [w/ PHI365]
This course will be an in-depth investigation of the argument that the existence of the evil in the world provides a reason to doubt the existence of an all-powerful, perfectly good God. We will address several of the many different versions of the argument, and several of the many different responses to the argument, and, in so doing, we will address a broad set of related questions about good and evil, free will and moral responsibility, divine intervention, better and worse possible worlds, the nature of God, and the various ways that we can put answers to all of these questions together. Course materials will be drawn primarily from philosophical sources, but we will also draw upon literary sources and religious texts. Readings will include the book of Job, Dostoevsky, Milton, Hume, Leibniz, Voltaire, and a number of recent and contemporary philosophers.

LEH3001557
S
9:15-11:45

ZL01

Gallo, Marcia

Sexuality and Sex Roles in Transnational Perspective
What is the relevance of gender and sexuality to the study of world histories and cultures? Using nonfiction and fiction writings, poetry, film, music and art, we will explore the changing meanings of sexuality and sex roles in relationship to demography, migration patterns, technology, economy, religion/spirituality, and family and other cultural forces. We will trace the development of sexual politics in specific societies in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe and the Americas; we will also explore how the study of sexuality offers opportunities to re-think major themes in world history.

EH 301

LEH3010763
F
1:00-3:30

01

Joyce, Regina

Latin America: The Violent Children of Cain
This course will provide an overview into Latin American violence emphasizing the complexity of repression and rebellion in this region’s history. Rosenberg in Children of Cain states “that one doesn’t necessarily have to be pathological to do horrible things. but rather this belongs to the society.” If society contains the answer, this course will consider a wide range of texts trying to not only understand the origins of violence in Latin America but also the point where global history enters into this equation. Themes of postcolonial mindsets and behavioral patterns, reflecting current political and economic relationships will emerge and the role of certain social movements will be examined.

LEH3010768
W
3:30-6:00

02

Renshon, Stanley

Immigration and National Identity
What does it mean to be an American? Large -scale immigration since 1964 has made this country more diverse that it has ever been. But the question remains: What hold America together? Is there something distinctive about national identity and citizenship in the United States? If so, what is it? Is it a matter of culture, beliefs, or something else? Is citizenship the same as "being an American?" How do immigrants fit into American identity? Is a national identity useful, or even possible, in an age of globalization? There are many questions to ask, and this course will examine them.

LEH3010762
M
11:00-1:40

03W

Perry-Ryder, Gail

Black Popular Culture
This course examines the folk idiom and evolution of African American culture past and present as reflected in the creative works of black artists in the areas of film, music, sports, and language. Examples are drawn from each of these areas to demonstrate the continuity of these images across artistic domains. Emphasis given to the relationship between historical and contemporary representations of the African American image across different genres of mass media.

LEH3010741
T, TH 2:00-3:15

04W

Khalid, Robina

Brother from Another Planet: African-American Science Fiction
African-American science fiction writer Nalo Hopkinson asserts that "science fiction has always been a subversive literature" because it forces the reader to "think twice and thrice about a whole bunch of things in relation to each other: sexuality, race, class, color, history." These questions will animate our course: is there a distinct tradition of black speculative fiction? Does black speculative fiction cause one, in fact, "to think twice and thrice" about race, class, and sexuality? We will begin with a general consideration of the fantastic in literature. Using supplementary materials from postcolonial and feminist theory, as well as a consideration of the traditions of travel writing and utopian/dystopian thought, we will look at how black writers, filmmakers and musicians have used speculative methods to defamiliarize our assumptions about "familiar" social issues. Texts may include writings by Pauline Hopkins, George Schuyler, W.E.B. Du Bois, Octavia Butler, Samuel Delany, Walter Mosley, Ishmael R

LEH3010764
Tu,Th
2:00-3:15

05W

Hodge, Jean

Women & Minorities in Film and Literature
The uniqueness of women and minorities in film from early 1900-present. We will examine the images, impact, messages and how they affect women and ethnic groups, including questions of gender bias, race and ethnicity. What unique contributions have women and people of color made in film? Has politics had any bearing on the roles played by women and minorities in film? The issue of stereotypes will also be confronted, in an attempt to comprehend recurring distortions in characteristics. Finally, we will look at the depiction of women and minorities on the screen and analyze how their characters might serve as valuable tools for stimulating sensitivity. In this writing intensive course, film viewing will be necessary in order to discuss various essays and texts. This writing intensive course will combine film study, literature, political science and history in examining works that includes, David Wark Griffith’s “The Birth Of A Nation,” Emil Jannings “The Blue Angel,” and Akira Kurosawa’s “Ikiru.”

LEH3012648
Tu,Th
4:00-5:15

06

Decker, Corrie

Developing Africa: Race, Sex and Welfare
This course will explore historical themes leading up to the emergence of the development discourse about Africa in the twentieth century. Rather than a history of development as such, we will investigate the connections between colonialism, gender, and notions of progress in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries that set the stage for the post-WWII development debates on Africa. Topics for discussion will include development as a discourse, the “civilizing mission”, scientific racism, urbanization, poverty, education, public health, nutrition, maternity and social welfare.

LEH3010766
T,Th 11:00-
12:15

C02W

Colburn, Forrest

Travel, Memory, and Memoir in the Americas
This course will explore a trove of travel writing, across time periods and settings in the Americas. The focus will be on examining how travel--of different kinds, ranging from that of tourism to migration and exile--leads to self-discovery and conclusions about self and society. The reading will include the chronicle of a shipwrecked Spanish explorer, Cabeza de la Vaca, a memoir of growing up (and leaving) a small Caribbean island by Jamaica Kincaid, Che Guevara's "motorcycle diaries," and John Steinbeck's novel of migration from dusty Oklahoma to verdant California, "Grapes of Wrath." These stimulating readings promise to inform students about the scope of the world, and prompting them to think about how an individual's sense of place shapes his or her character. Students will be expected to write about their own experience.

LEH3010767
T,Th 12:30-
1:45

D01

Zierler, David

Environmental Issues in War and Peace
This course will examine the United States and international environmental politics. In the post-Cold War world, a new political consciousness and discourse has taken up such global problems as deforestation in the Amazon, ozone depletion over

Antarctica, the destruction of wild tiger habitat in India, to name a few. These problems are part of a single continuum—ultimately these issues affect us all. This connectedness and the role of the US in the new environmental awareness are the central concern of this course.

LEH3010742
Tu,Th12:30-1:45

D02W

Esdaile, Lisa

Black Feminist Thought in the United States, From 1831 to the Present
What is feminism? If feminism speaks to equality for women, then why the need for black feminism? What about the woman who is not white but not black, or of African descent? Where does the “woman of color” fit in? This course will explore these questions, looking at black feminist writings from the nineteenth century to the present. We will read essays, poems, short stories, and novels, as well as view some films that black women have created that often fly in the face of demeaning pop cultural images and perceptions. There will be many selections from Beverly Guy-Sheftall’s Words of Fire: An Anthology of African-American Thought. This anthology contains non-fiction writings by black women from 1831 to the present. The writings are grouped chronologically and thematically, which allows for a mapping of black feminist thought in the United States.

LEH3012649
T,Th
12:30-1:45

D03w

Sanchez, Julette

New York City and the Lively Arts
Between Van Cortland Park and Coney Island there is, probably, more artistic vitality than anywhere else in the world. It is a banquet and no Lehman student should miss the celebration. Students in this LEH 300 section will have seats at the head table. They will attend plays and performances right here on the Lehman campus. During class meetings, they will also have a chance to read about and discuss what they have seen. The end result should be a greater appreciation and understanding of New York's artistic riches.

LEH3010743
M, W 8:00-9:15

E01

Boone, Ralph W

"Common Sense" vs Tyranny and Superstition“These are the times that try men’s souls.” With these lines from his pamphlet Common Sense, Thomas Paine rallied not only Washington’s defeated troops but also a dispirited nation. That year Common Sense sold more copies than the bible. Thomas Paine is the first person to use the term, “The United States of America,” and it is often said that had Common Sense not been published the “Declaration of Independence” would not have come to pass. Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams all considered Thomas Paine the Founding Father of the Republic. “Why then is the name Thomas Paine not a household name? Why is there no national holiday celebrating his birthday? Why did Theodore Roosevelt angrily dismiss Thomas Paine as “a dirty little atheist?” In our search for answers we will read selections from Paine’s writings: Common Sense, The Crisis, and Rights of Man. We will then examine Age of Reason, the work that caused his name to be vilified and virtually stricken

LEH3010744
M,W
8:00-9:15

E02

Jimenez, Miriam

Latino/a in the United States: Ethnic Difference and Political Incorporation
What does it mean to be Latino/a in the U.S. and how are Latinos changing today? What is the future of Latinos in the U.S.? Are Latinos moving into the mainstream U.S. society and politics like other groups did before them? May the Latino electorate eventually become a decisive force in presidential elections and American politics in general? Latinos have had a substantive impact on the demographic face of the United States. In the two decades comprehended between 1980 and 2000 the Latino population doubled; by 2003, they had become the country's largest minority group. Latinos, however, are differentiated among themselves by income, education, citizenship, and ethnic/gender/other identity. This course analyzes the complexity of the Latino/a experience from a multidisciplinary, comparative perspective. The course identifies areas of on-going change and reflects on challenges and opportunities, with an emphasis on political incorporation.

LEH3010745
M,W
9:30-10:45

F01W

Valentine, Robert

Images of the American Civil War
This course will examine the legacy of the Civil War and how it has been perceived in American culture from 1865 until the present day. Aspects of the "Lost Cause," the rise of Realism and the impact of Veterans' Organizations, the "Compromise" of the 1930s, post-1945 commercialism, the Centennial, the latter-day "re-enactment" culture, and the controversy over the Confederate flag will be covered. We will explore the perceptions of the War through fiction and film, analyze the impact of modern documentaries, and assess the importance of historic preservation and underwater archaeology. Prior knowledge of the American Civil War is beneficial to the understanding of these concepts.

LEH3010747
M,W
9:30-10:45

F02W

Cyrille, Dominique

Black Dance, Identity & Body Politics in the Caribbean
The aim of the class is to get students accustomed to the notions of Caribbean dance and music as expressive arts. Students will be invited to reflect upon issues of performance and construction of identity across space and time in the Caribbean and Caribbean cities of the USA. Using audiovisual documents, past-century literature as well as more recent studies about dance as a starting point, we will examine how people from various ethnic background in the Caribbean and Caribbean cities of the USA define dance and notions of appropriateness about dance. From the "Touloulous' balls" in French Guyane or the Dominican "Quadrille" to Haitian "Rara" masqueraders and New York "On-2" salsa dancers, we will explore various styles of Black dance and musicmaking in the circum-Caribbean on order to discuss how feelings of identity, political and/or religious beliefs, etc. permeate an individual's choice of music and dance practice. Conversely, we will examine how the expressive arts contribute to identity formation

LEH3010746M,W
11:00-12:15

G01w

Suchma, Phillip

Sport and the American City
Sport – whether amateur or professional, recreational or competitive – holds a prominent place in our current American culture. The presence of sport in our lives is not limited, however, only to culture. Nowhere is this more obvious than in modern American city, where sport can be part of the economy, shape neighborhood development, and help communities form an identity. This course will take a socio-historical approach in examining the rise of our modern sporting culture and how it coincides with America becoming an urban nation. Among the topics covered will be the rise of professional sports, participation based on ethnicity and social class, stadium construction, franchise relocation, and the impact of all of these topics on civic image and identity.

LEH301
2650

M,W
11:00-12:15

2654
M
6:00-8:40

G02W

XM81W

Brown, Tammy

Black Art, Identity, and Politics:1920-2007
This course charts how African-American artists have used literary, visual, and performance media to explore what it means to be black in America. Assignments include reading, listening, and viewing artwork produced from 1920 until the present. Using rare audio and visual materials (e.g. music, photography, film, etc.), students will critically engage primary sources and will situate them in a broader political and historical context with assistance from the secondary readings. The main goal of this course is to demonstrate the dynamic role that artistic production has played in African-American representations of self, understanding of local communities, and constructions of international and transnational identities.

LEH3010769M,W
11:00-12:15

G03W

Robertson, Margaret

American Gothic: Literature, Architecture, Film
We are accustomed to think of the nineteenth century in America as a time of great optimism and opportunity, the age of the American Dream, but such thinking obscures the darker side of our history. Under the bright patina of American ambition lurks a cultural preoccupation with darkness, reflecting our individual and corporate fears of the unknown, the supernatural, the sexual, and the savage. The dark magic, madness, and mystery of the gothic form proved the perfect tool for the exploration of American darkness in the nineteenth century and continues to be used to the present day. This course will explore this darker side of American identity from the dawn of the nineteenth century to the present day through the literature, architecture, and films of some of its most famous artists. We will read short stories and excerpts of longer works by authors such as Washington Irving, Edgar Allen Poe, William Faulkner, and Toni Morrison. Several classic films in the gothic mode will be viewed, and important instances

LEH3010754
M,W
12:30-1:45

0750
FM

H02W

ONA3W

Sanford, Victoria

Human Rights in Latin America
This course provides an interdisciplinary overview of human rights (e.g., political, social, cultural and economic rights) and their abuses in Latin America. Child soldiers, urban gangs, street children, indigenous rights movements, coca grower movements, drug trafficking, human trafficking, government corruption, illegal land grabs, free trade zones, and rural to urban migration are among the issues affecting, challenging and shaping human rights in Latin America today. What happens when rights collide? Who decides which rights are valid? These questions and issues will be considered in the course as we examine rights issues from Mexico to Central America and the Caribbean,through the Andes and down to the Southern Cone.

LEH3012651
MW
12:30-1:45

H03W

Rice, Anne

African American Lives: Music, Art, and Text
For many people living in the United States, the idea of freedom has supposedly been embodied in the experience (or dream) of movement across space - whether from the slave South to the labor North, from the urban East to the rural West, from an Old World of repression and want to a New World of innocence, promise, and abundance. This course will examine narratives of migration expressed in literature, art, music, and film. We will consider the myth of the U.S. frontier and its collision with counter-narratives of migration such as the enforced removal of Native Americans, the brutal Middle Passage of African slaves, the journeys of displaced workers and the poor. We will ask what these journeys can tell us about the values and history of this space we call the United States.

LEH3010748FM

ONA1W

Whittaker, Robert

FEAR: The Cold War and American Culture
How America reacted to the “threat of Communism” and how this fear was reflected in literature, art, film and mass culture (including TV and political propaganda). The historical focus will be on the immediate post-War era of the 1950s and early 1960s.

LEH3010749
FM

ONA2W

Hall, Polly

Politics, Culture, and Human RightsThis course introduces you to the intricate interplay between politics and culture surrounding the issue of human rights. We will explore the impact of American politics and culture on political and social institutions connected to the human rights field, and on international conflict and cooperation related to human rights. We will specifically examine universal (or political) principles declared in various human rights covenants and see how American cultural traditions resist the adoption of some of these principles. We will explore a variety of human rights case studies and compare American politics and culture to the different political and cultural approaches taken by other countries. Concepts of oppression, culture, and patriarchy will be explored to understand their social and political implications. Tensions between cultural traditions and human rights will be explored. This course will be taught from an interdisciplinary perspective, integrating theory and readings from political science, intern

LEH3010751
FM

ONA4w

Hall, Polly

American Environmental Policy
American Environmental Politics captures the major issues and stakeholders in the shaping of environmental policy. We will examine how environmental problems are identified and how solutions are formulated and implemented. By addressing the historical roots of environmentalism, milestones in the development of key policies, and current problems and conflicts, we will explore the inter-complexity and importance of the field. In addition to understanding the domestic dimensions of environmental policy, we will also integrate an international perspective on environmental law and issues that require a global response.

LEH3010752FM

ONA5w

Lahey, Miriam

American Approaches to Disability: Changing Contexts and Concepts
American Environmental Politics captures the major issues and stakeholders in the shaping of environmental policy. We will examine how environmental problems are identified and how solutions are formulated and implemented. By addressing the historical roots of environmentalism, milestones in the development of key policies, and current problems and conflicts, we will explore the inter-complexity and importance of the field. In addition to understanding the domestic dimensions of environmental policy, we will also integrate an international perspective on environmental law and issues that require a global response.

LEH3010753FM
Jan 28, Feb 25, Mar 24,
May 12, 6-8:00 PM

ONA6w

Gersh, Sheila

Using Multimedia to Visualize American Culture
This course is designed to use information technology and digital collections to support the teaching of American Culture. Through the study of culture, historic topics about America, general ideas about American culture, and specific aspects of American culture, students will gain a deeper understanding of America. Student investigations will produce educational “American CultureQuilt” websites from which others can learn.

LEH3010755
FM

ONA7w

Driver, John

Globalization and American Media
From humble origins in the late 1700’s, United States media evolved during the early twentieth century and became the foremost world exporter of content, both of a serious nature as well as entertainment. The trend continues, although global dominance of American media may be in question. As we examine the significant highlights in the evolution of American media -- from the newspaper to radio to television to the Internet -- we will take a parallel journey and examine the effects these innovations have had on the world and probe the influence, acceptance and lack of acceptance of US media on a global level. The course seeks to stimulate a better understanding of US and world culture through a study of American media in relation to their influence (both positive and negative) on the world. The course aims to provoke thought and an understanding of US media’s impact on the world and attempts to create an environment where students from diverse backgrounds can engage in discussion about the contemporary resp

LEH3010761

ONA8w

Williams, Stacey

The Black Image: From Caricature to Hip Hop Mass Marketing
This course explores the history of reproduced portrayals of blacks from 19th-century caricatures in illustrated books and images of darkly colored domestics in advertising. The course will look at early studio postcards and anthropological photography that documented subjects' physical as well as scientific racial uniqueness. Around 1900, the W.E.B. DuBois' Negro Exposition displayed photographs of the Negro middle class. Marketing of the New Negro in black newspapers and magazines continued during the Harlem Renaissance, Garveyism, and black is beautiful movements. Questions of how the black image has survived in present versions dubbed by black entertainers and media masters, including grass roots and Hollywood Blaxploitation of the 70s until hip hop's contemporary sexually explicit videos will be examined in depth. Aside from the theme of visual image, the class will learn about the creative environments in which these images were created. Also included is the study of music, literature, theater, fashion

LEH301

FM

ONA9w

Williams, Stacey

Black is Beautiful: Issues of Culture and Narcissism in American History
The course will explore how the African American experience stressed cultural bonds in music, oral tradition, and spirituality with great success. However, economic freedom and equal rights have not alleviated fundamental strains on black communities which consistently feature negative images of street life and crime unabated. These essential problems that are associated with being a person of color insult these communities and deny all people a sense of personal well-being. This course will present American historical overviews and topics: American Civil War, Reconstruction, the black migration and Civil Rights. In addition, we will investigate how black culture challenged American values during the Harlem Renaissance and the "Black is Beautiful" 60s up until the critical theories of the present. Students are expected to analyze and interpret scholarly and popular writings, as well as commercial advertising, photography, TV and film, blues and jazz, and hip-hop music videos.

LEH301
1561
M
2:00-4:30

1564W
6:00-8:40

P01

XW81

Renique, Jose

Truth, Memory and Reconciliation: From South Africa to Chile

LEH3010760
M
2:00-4:30

P02W

Shahidi, Samina

The New American Memoir
This course examines four memoirs that explore American identity though the lenses of political theory, race construction and literary aesthics. In Another Bulls*** Night in S**k City, acclaimed poet and author Nick Flynn examines his estranged father’s homelessness in Boston during the 1970’s. Through startling and experimental literary device, Flynn writes about his search for his own on the streets as a social worker in a homeless shelter. Lipstick Jihad is Iranian American journalist Azadeh Moaveni’s smart and sexy interrogation of the political, cultural and social negotiations that Iranian Americans and Iranians make as citizens in both countries as their governments struggle towards reasonable dialogue. Anne du Cille in elegant and thorough language traces the intersections of gender, race, class and politics in “Skin Trade”, a compelling personal and academic essay on growing up with Barbie as an African American girl during the Vietnam War. These personal narratives achieve a double ness of internal

LEH3010756
T
2:00-4:30

1562
T
6:00-8:40

Q01W

XT81W

Mazza, Kate

The Idea of Modernity (1880-1920)
This course seeks to explore the idea of modernity as it developed in late 19th century and early 20th century in Western culture with an emphasis on the United States. We will learn about historical events and changes that occurred at this time. We will consider what people at the period thought of these developments. We will learn about the following transformations during 1870s-1920s and how people felt about these changes: (1) technology, mechanization, Fordism/Taylorism (2) Urbanization, alienation, crowds, mass society ( 3 ) Art and Architecture, modern art, Bauhaus architecture (4 ) psychology, neurasthenia, Freud, sexuality ( 5 ) Gender, masculinity, femininity ( 6 ) World War I and its Aftermath, the Lost Generation, trench poets, ( 7 ) Anti-modernism, reactions to change.

LEH3012653
T
2:00-4:30

Q02

Bullaro, Grace

The Self, Social Commitment and the Arts
In this course we will explore the relationship between the individual and society, specifically how the arts can be the driving force of social and political change in any society. We will examine how religion, philosophy, literature and the visual arts have reflected global events and ideas—but also how these ideas have at times been used by unscrupulous individuals and governments for the purposes for manipulating the masses.

LEH3010757
Th
2:00-4:30

R01W

Esdaile, Lisa

The African-American Detective in Film and Fiction
This course will focus on the black detective in film and fiction, looking at how black writers (and directors and actors) transformed a genre that initially excluded blacks, as well as women, because of their supposed lack of rationacinative skills.

LEH3010759
TH
2:00-4:30

R02

Johnson, Geoff

Hip Hop and the Urban Crisis
The course will be focused on post-WWII urban history -- American cities in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s -- and will also include the disciplines of music and sociology. Historians, sociologists, anthropologists and other scholars interested in urban phenomena often make reference to an "urban crisis" in the United States which begins in the mid-late 1960s and arguably continues down to the present day. In this course we will investigate the highly complex nature of the "urban crisis" and problematize the term in order to see how the very definition of "urban crisis" is multifaceted and contested. The course will begin by constructing a broad overview of post-WWII U.S. urban history, then turn to various aspects of the "urban crisis" during the last few decades. The class will draw on a wide variety of readings from week to week including work by academic historians and sociologists, cultural criticism, and primary sources such as newspaper articles (there will be several required texts, but much of the r

LEH3011560
TH
6:00-8:40

XH81

Schulman, Jason

American Protest, Politics and Popular Culture
This course will examine the impact of protest movements and politics on popular culture in American life in the 20th century. We will first focus on the rise of mass industrial trade unionism in the 1930s and 1940s, as exemplified by the Congress of Industrial Organizations, and the CIO's relations with the New Deal-era Democratic Party and the Communist Party USA. We will examine how the CPUSA helped build not only the CIO but a great array of organizations that impacted on every phase of American life, and how the party and its members influenced jazz and popular music, blues and folk music, and Hollywood movies. We will then move through the “McCarthyist” 1950s to the 1960s and attempt to analyze the relations between the Civil Rights movement and its “freedom songs,” black and black-influenced popular music, the Black Power era, and the beginning of “blaxploitation” films.

LEH3011559
Th
6:00-8:40

XH82

Murphy, Denis

The Irish-American Experience: From the Old World to the New
This course will trace the roots of the Irish emigrants who left for the New World of the United States in the nineteenth century. It will survey the Gaelic past from the mythology of Cuchualinn and Maeve in The Tain to the Golden Age, the conquest and the catastrophe of the Famine. From here the course will focus on the new urban Irish in the American city and the experience of the Irish west of the Mississippi. The course will be presented in the framework of the literature, history and culture of the Irish in the "American Experience."

LEH3010758
M
6:00-8:40

XM82

Glasser, Marilynn

"Americans at Play: Defining a National Character through Leisure"
Leisure experience from pre-colonial times to the present day, with emphasis on the role of leisure behaviors in the development and expression of American identity. Topics include cultural diversity; women's leisure; role of sport and government; the outdoor experience; the arts; media, popular culture and technology; consumerism and deviance.

LEH3011563
Tu
6:00-8:40

XT82

Harmon, Gregory

Slavery and New York, 1600-1890
This course is a historical survey of slavery as an institution in New York from 1620 to 1890. The course will show slavery under the Dutch from 1620-1664, and the radical change once England took over in 1664. The students will gain a better appreciation for the geography of New York City. They will also learn how the growth of New York City’s economy was interwoven with the South’s slave economy. In addition students will learn about the abolitionist and an anti-abolitionist movements in New York which led to the abolishment of slavery in 1827 (which did not end the intimate economic relationship that New York had with the South). Finally the student will see how blacks in New York evolved from slaves to free men and women.

LEH3011558
SU
12:00-2:30

ZP01

Kaczynski, Charles

“Real to Reel”: New York Immigration in Film
This course will examine the history of immigration to New York City and its depiction in popular films. By examining the historical record within the framework of cinematic representations of immigration, students will confront issues of historical accuracy versus creative license. Along with comparing “real” immigration to “reel” immigration, students will analyze the films as historical artifacts of the time in which they were produced, recognizing how the films exhibit the attitudes and assumptions commonly held about immigration at particular points in American history.